Declaration of Love
by Raine Yuy
Summary: //"...he laid the roses down by the angel's feet. The man stood before the stone angel in silence and bowed his head. Then clear as the sound of raindrops, declared, "I love you, Relena."// Rated for Angst.


Disclaimer: I hold no claim to Gundam Wing and any of its characters.  
  
Note: A short fic dedicated to kmf for her anniversary.  
  
Sanc Kingdom:  
  
Just half an hour more before she was due to land and Duo was to meet her. I studied my surroundings with ruthless critical eyes. I smiled softly in anticipation before I caught myself. It was a little past 6 and the sky was starting to lose its paleness. The stars were due to come out soon. The garden glowed with a million brilliant lights as I had instructed Noin to make sure it did. Crimson roses littered the ground and surrounded the small table set up in the middle of the garden. It was set for two. I fidgeted with the wineglasses nervously before I realised what I was doing. No speakers were visible but I knew that as soon as I seated her, the music would automatically play. I had made sure of that too.  
  
I glanced at my watch impatiently before I took out my phone and dialled the number.  
  
"Yup." Came the chirpy response to the ringing of the phone.  
  
"Everything is set to go. Where is she?"  
  
An amused laugh reached my ears before Duo Maxwell answered. "Impatient are we? She's already on the plane probably catching up on all the sleep she's lost. We're just sitting around here waiting for her to land. Sit still Heero."  
  
Then the line went dead. I let out a breath of relief, sat down, and closed my eyes in contentment. I couldn't have stopped the small smile that pulled at the corner of my mouth even if I tried. One year. Relena and I were celebrating one year. I could hardly believe how much it warmed me to simply be able to count the days we've been together. I could hardly believe that one year ago, I had walked away from the shadows into the light and demanded that I be a part of her life. I had gotten tired of the dark and could no longer resist the pull of her warmth.  
  
I had never regretted the decision even through the tough times. The times when both of us had wanted to give up. The times when I wanted to walk out and never look back. The times when she had called me selfish for demanding she give more of herself to me and less to the world. The times insecurity had eaten me alive and believed that she loved the boy I was and not the man I had become. But then one little smile from her and every pain and doubts we had ever incurred just faded out of sight. There was only her and that hopeful smile of hers that begged for me to believe in both of us. She became my gravity in a world where everything that was lost floated from reality. She became everything to me.  
  
It was about time that I told her so.  
  
Aboard a private jet:  
  
Just a few more minutes and she would be home. Home to a pair of strong arms and warm mouth. Home to the smell of earth and that unique scent of his very own. Home to a man who was the very reason she smiled now in anticipation. One year. How had she existed outside of that year? Was there even a Relena Dorlian before Heero Yuy had entered her life? It seemed impossible to her that she had lived most of her life without that constant shadow she had craved and still crave so much. Just a few more minutes.  
  
They had been apart for only three days but another hour would have been too much. She wanted his arms around her and she wanted to fold herself into his warmth after the coldness of the space. She had a feeling about tonight. Something very important to her future was about to be revealed like a curtain call for the next part of the play. And she could not possibly explained how she knew, but it was something she had been waiting for. Something she had been craving every night before closing her eyes to sleep and with Heero's warm breath tickling the back of her neck. It was a silent wish then. The only wish she had ever asked for herself. For Heero to give voice to the emotions she knew lay within him. The same emotions she held for him but refused to vocalize before he did.  
  
A uniformed crewman made his way to where she sat just at the far end of the luxurious business jet she and Milliardo shared. He bowed respectfully to her before he spoke in a warm, gentle voice.  
  
"Miss Relena, the pilot have given orders for you to secure yourself properly. It seems that the ride will be a little turbulent for a few minutes." He watched as she properly tightened her seatbelt and with a tight smile asked, "Is there anything else I can do to make you more comfortable Miss Relena?"  
  
"No, I'm just fine. But do tell me when it is safe to relax and use my phone will you? I would like to make a call later on."  
  
"Of course Miss Relena." He bowed once more before making his way back to the cockpit.  
  
Relena sat tight, her hands gripping each other in anxiety. As far as she knew, the weather was fine when they left but maybe it had changed during her flight back to the earth. A frown of concern marred her brow as she braced herself.  
  
Landing strip near the Sanc Kingdom:  
  
Duo Maxwell paced the open space near the target landing and cursed satellites and signals for refusing to connect him with the radio aboard Relena's private jet. He turned his frustration back to a dark haired girl with delicate features standing calm before him.  
  
"Heero has called me exactly 47 times in the last half an hour but I still can't seem to find out what's going on. I've been trying to contact the pilot but there's no bloody signal. Heero's going to chop off my braid and hand feed it to me if I don't figure this shit out."  
  
Hilde reached out and gently swept back Duo's bangs from his features that marked his frustrations and growing fear. "Relax Duo, you know how unreliable those damn communicators are when they're flying. It's always impossible to get through." She hoped it was enough to prevent him from having a panic attack. Inside, she hid her own growing worry.  
  
"I don't know Hilde. I have this damn feeling and I can't seem to get rid of it."  
  
Inside the private jet:  
  
She had waited long enough for someone to explain to her what was going on. All she wanted was to land and head straight to where she knew Heero was waiting. She released the latch on her seatbelt and made her way to the cockpit. What she found only confused her more. The two pilots were shouting at each other and flipping on switches and pushing buttons she did not comprehend connected to anything. Red lights were flashing left and right and panic was written all over the two pilot's faces.  
  
"Gentlemen, what is going on?"  
  
They both turned at the same time at the sound of her voice just behind them. They also turned white at the same time.  
  
"Miss Relena!" The man who had approached her earlier squealed in surprise.  
  
"I asked you what is going on."  
  
"Ummm.Miss Relena, we seem to have quite a problem in our hands here. You see, it seems that our communication devices have been tampered with along with our main and back-up controls." The man was genuinely close to tears and panic. "We've been trying everything but there's just nothing else for us to do."  
  
She felt the shock of what the words meant and felt her heart drop to her stomach. Oh god, not now. Not now. She whispered the words over and over inside her head even as her face showed only cold calm.  
  
"So you mean to say that we are helpless to do anything? That we are to sit here and wait for this plane to crash?"  
  
The man finally let go of his control and sobbed, "I am so sorry Miss Relena. Oh god, I am so sorry."  
  
Her knees buckled and she slid down the length of the small cockpit door to the floor. For the first time in her life, she had no idea what the next move was.  
  
Sanc Kingdom:  
  
Crimson roses were flattened under his feet as he ruthlessly walked over them. Back and forth. Back and forth. He could not stop moving or else he would lose momentum and slide down to the bed of roses. He pushed the button for redial and tried again. Hoping against hope and, for the first time he could ever remember, prayed to a god he had vowed never to believe in. Come on, ring! The relief he felt upon hearing the tune of her cell phone ringing made him almost weak. Christ, finally. He tightened his grip at the sound of her sweet voice.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"I swear to god Relena, I am going to beat the living hell out of you as soon as you get back here. What the hell is the matter with you? Why didn't you even think to call any of us to let us know what's going on? Duo and I have been trying like maniacs to contact you but we just couldn't seem to get through. What's wrong with your plane's radio?"  
  
He could have gone on and on if he hadn't heard a low sound that sounded suspiciously like a whimper.  
  
"Heero." It was a weak call of his name and a cold shiver made its way down his back.  
  
"Relena."  
  
"I've wanted to tell you something for such a long time but there was never any opportunity for me to say it." Then she laughed a bitter laugh that scraped at his heart. "Actually, there was a lot of opportunity but I just chose to let them pass me by. I was such an idiot. I should have.I had so much time."  
  
"Relena, tell me what's wrong. What the hell is going on?" He never noticed the way his voice cracked. Fear controlled his every senses and his body's whole system.  
  
"Just listen Heero, please. I need to do this before it's too late. I can't leave without saying it." He could almost taste the salty teardrops he heard in her voice and he felt the racking sobs that rocked her body. God, he was scared. "Heero.one year. My god, I can't believe we made it that far. It was worth it. It was worth the entire wait and all the pain. That one year made up my whole life you know. Without that time with you, my life wouldn't have been truly lived."  
  
"Shut the hell up Relena and tell me where you are now. I'm on my way to the airport ok? I'll be there to meet you myself. Now just shut the hell up."  
  
"I wish I can see you now. Just one last look at you Heero. To touch that face of yours." Her voice had turned calm, whispery. He swallowed the tears that stung his eyes and closed his throat so tight he almost choked.  
  
"You'll see me Relena. And I'll see you." Thorns ripped the flesh of his hand as the petals were crushed and detached from their precious stems. Crimson blood blended with crimson roses.  
  
A tired sigh and then a soft breath released. "Heero.I love you."  
  
A deafening sound of explosion before the deathly silence of a disconnected signal.  
  
He waited as if the moment was only suspended by time and her voice would call his name again. Then his words came in a soft whisper of declaration, "I love you, Relena."  
  
Too late. Too goddamn late.  
  
When there was no answer that followed his words, his control broke. Crimson roses fell in companion with his teardrops. Blood, petals and tears stained the grass in red. Then came the inhuman cry of a soul whose heart had been ripped out from the very core of his chest. And the cry resounded throughout space again and again and again until it reached the stars and the heavens. And in answer to the call, the moon wept and washed the lands with its cold tears.  
  
10 years later.  
  
He was back again, the caretaker of the private graveyard thought to himself. The same man with the angry Prussian eyes and red roses in his hands. And he knew exactly where he was headed and the ritual he would perform before the stone angel. The same ritual every year for the past ten years. The caretaker's eyes smarted at the sad sight before him. A man's devotion to a stone angel who could not answer the Prussian man's questions. He hid behind a lesser angel to watch the Prussian man.  
  
He stopped before an isolated stone grave where a concrete angel made to impersonate the young woman whose body lay beneath it, stood watch. The man first read the words engraved into the marker of the grave.  
  
Relena Peacecraft Cherished Sister Beloved Friend Earth's Borrowed Angel  
  
And then he laid the roses down by the angel's feet. The man stood before the stone angel in silence and bowed his head. Then clear as the sound of raindrops, declared, "I love you, Relena."  
  
Every year for the past ten years the man would declare this over and over as if atoning for not saying them often enough while the stone angel still lived in real flesh and blood. The caretaker shook his head in sympathy for such a sad concept. And he knew that years from now, he would meet this same man again until his own body could be laid right beside the woman he could not seem to let go. And years from now, the same red roses would be left by the stone angel's feet until its petals detached themselves from the stems and dried out.  
  
The caretaker finally abandoned his post behind the lesser angel and continued to sweep the dry leaves scattered on the ground. Leaves that marked the passing of the years and the many more deaths that have been welcomed. And if god were willing, he hoped the tormented Prussian man would soon join his own beloved in heaven and finally end his yearly liaison with the cold ground. The caretaker made this wish only with the best of intentions for the Prussian eyes only held out for a quiet answer to his constant declaration of love. 


End file.
